This invention relates to ultrasonic cleaning apparatuses and more particularly to an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus having a new, useful, and unobvious vibrating member disposed within a cleaning tank for cleaning strips of film, wire and the like.
In recent years there has been considerable activity in the use of ultrasonic generators and transducers for producing ultrasonic vibrations causing cavitation to exist in a fluid for cleaning of objects containing soils or other types of undesirable substances thereon. The energy produced by the ultrasonic generator in combination with a transducer generally at frequencies above 16,000 cycles per second (16 KHZ) when transmitted through a liquid and the vibrations generated thereby provided the energy for cleaning foreign particles from many types of objects such as surgical instruments, clothing, electronic panelboards and the like. The ultrasonic vibrations in the liquid induces rapid expansion and contraction of millions of microscopic bubbles, the implosion or collapse of these bubbles during the pressure reduction part of the cycle resulting in a powerful scrubbing action which pulls contaminants free from the parts immersed in the cleaning solution. The ultrasonic vibrations are usually transmitted to the cleaning fluid by mounting ultrasonic transducers on the exterior surface of one of the walls of the tank containing the cleaning solution or by mounting within the cleaning tank the transducers, the transducers being properly protected from the chemical action of the cleaning fluid. However, in the cleaning of long thin strips of wire, film, or other materials, a continuous process or apparatus which provides for quick release of these foreign particles has not been found.